OU Women's BB: Set to Host Baylor on Tuesday @6 PM, Go Sooners !

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OU Women's BB: Set to Host Baylor on Tuesday @6 PM, Go Sooners !

Post by OUBeliever56A »

Tuesday Night in Lloyd Noble Center is another big contest between to ranked teams. Following the Texas-OU Men's Game on Saturday @ 1PM with over 10,000 fans in attendance, the OU Women's Basketball Team needs that type of fan support on Tuesday when they host the Baylor Bears to LNC @ 6 PM.

Once again, the athletic department is selling $5 tickets to attend the game. The same low-priced tickets help to fuel the big attendance Saturday. I know Coach Baranczyk would like to see the same big crowd that Coach Moser received for the Sooner fans.

Here is the staff writers pre-game article about the matchup between the two ranked teams.

https://soonersports.com/news/2023/1/2/ ... -in-norman

If for some reason you cannot attend the game in person, the game will be aired on ESPN+ with a subscription.

The game features the only game in the Women's big 12 schedule for this round of games between to teams with a 1-0 conference record. That makes the game important al by itself. But beyond going to 2-0 with a win, a win is important to keep pace with the expected leaders of the Big 12 and to hold the home-court advantage for the Sooners.

OU won both games with Baylor last season in Coach Baranczyk's first run through the Big 12 conference. In both games, the Bears were very animated about foul calls and other complaints for the games. If you remember, last year the game in Waco had to be delayed about an hour and half so OU could arrive in Waco due to ice and weather cancelling an OU flight to Waco, followed by a impromptu bus ride from Norman to Waco. For some reason, Baylor made a fairly big deal of that delay both before and after OU won the road game on the home court of Baylor.

The Sooners won in Norman 83-77 when OU turned a 5-point deficit after 3Q into a 23-12 point 4Q in favor of OU.
In Waco, when the game finally got started, OU took a one-point lead into the 4Q. Baylor immediately took the lead and never trailed until 6 seconds left in the game when Liz Scott made a jumper in the lane to give OU the 78-77 win. OU rallied from behind for the win as they were down by 6 points with just over 4 minutes left in the game.
It is important to note that the Sooners played both games against Baylor last year without Ana Llanusa due to her season ending injury before the Big 12 schedule started.

Good luck to the Sooner Women tomorrow night against the Bears!

Boomer Sooner!
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Post by OUBeliever56A »

I would like to offer my thoughts about tonight's Baylor - Oklahoma Women's BB game tonight at LNC at 6 PM.

First of all, I hope the crowd is large due to the $5 tickets being offered. A big, loud crowd is worth as many a 10 points in a close game. Baylor is, or at least was in 2021, a tough, aggressive team that plays with a bit of a swagger and purpose. I think they get some of that from their 2nd year head coach, Nikki Collen, She drives them pretty hard. As fans of Oklahoma, a big crowd can give the Baylor Bears one more thing to fight against and perhaps keep some of their focus off of the Sooner players.

I do think the game will be a very close contest tonight. The Sooners won the two regular season games against Baylor last year by a total of 7 points (6 at home and 1 in Waco). What I did not talk about in the post above was the blowout win by Baylor in the Big 12 Tourney over Oklahoma. Baylor won that game 91-76. Baylor lead 75-56 after 3Q's. It was a tough loss for OU last year in the Big 12 Tourney. The loss to Baylor was a back-to-back game for OU after the Sooners defeated Kansas by 22 points the day before. Baylor also played the day before as they easily defeated OSU.

I bring that up due to this. Baylor is minus 3 players from last year's team. They lost 1 guard, Lewis, and two forwards, Ebo and Smith. All three were strong players for Baylor although Egbo and Smith could find themselves upset about many things besides the game of basketball, IMO.

At the guard position, Baylor has added Owens to the tandem of Andrews and Asberry to fill a very good 3-guard position for the Bears. They play about 90 minutes a game and score 32 points agame. But usually one of the 3 guards score 17+ a game due to a hot hand. The fourth guard this year is a duo of Ferreira and Van Gytenbeek. they play about 27 of the remaining 30 minutes at the guard positions. While the Baylor guards are not big (Ferreira is 6'0") but they can produce match-up issues for the Sooners. When OU play man-to-man defense, which they are doing more in 22-23, I would guess that Tot guards Asbury who is 5'5". Llanusa (OU's best defender) probably guards Andrews with Robertson left to guard Owens. I wonder if T-Rob can handle Owens' quickness.

Inside, Baylor could be better than last year I think. They play Bickle (6'1") who is a hustling, physical, temptress looking for a reason to cause emotion. She is a frustrating player in many ways. OU needs to just play 'ball' against her and not give Bickle a reason to play with emotion. Bickle is averaging 12 points and 6 board a game in 26 minutes. OU has to play tough against her for 40 minutes. I would guess that Williams gets that job with Vann filling in. The other inside player for Baylor has been Littlepage-buggs (6'1"). She is a NW Classen grad from Edmond, OK and is a freshman. She is playing well also scoring 9 points and getting 9 boards a game. She is more athletic and a bit leaner than the other inside Baylor players. Liz Scott (and Vann) probably plays against the freshman in man-to-man defense. When OU plays their zone, Bickle will play high at the FT Line with Littlepage-bugg down low. Baylor also has two other inside players which may physically be tough for OU to match up against. Fontleroy (FR - 6'0") and Gillispie (SO - 6'1") are bigger bodies with some talent as they score 15 points and 10 boards a game. They give the Bears 36 good minutes off the bench.

At times, Baylor does go with 3 bigs in the game. I think that might happen more than normal tonight against the Sooners. When that happens, I expect OU to go to a zone. It is just tough for OU to match up against 3 big inside players with their starting lineup. T-Rob sometimes is able to play against a big but at times that matchup is a tough one. Llanusa could play a big but OU needs her defense usually outside against the best perimeter player.

Based upon those concerns, I think that three bench players will be very important for Oklahoma today. Skylar Vann will be very important inside and will probably play more than her 18 minutes she has averaged this year. Vann's experience could be very helpful against the young Baylor players inside. The other two will be Kennedy Tucker and Reyna Scott I think. Tucker probably needs to be playing tonight for her defense outside or when OU is playing zone. Tucker gives up some offense though so the Sooners probably need Llanusa, Williams and T-Rob in the game when Tucker plays. R Scott has some size at the guard position and can be a distributor of the basketball when she is in control. If R Scott could provide 12 minutes of good play for the Sooners it would be a big help. I do not know how much Aubrey Joens plays tonight. She can shoot from outside for sure, but she does not match up in the zone or man-to-man very well tonight with Baylor. Joens scrappiness is always helpful but i think she plays less than normal tonight unless there a foul issues at the guard position. We have yet to see Joens at the point this year, i do not know if she can play there, but it is an option. I think that Johnson plays more than Culliton tonight. I think Johnson's height might help if she can not be physically pushed under the basket by Baylor.

My keys for the game are these:

* Liz Scott and Williams stay out of foul trouble. Liz Scott may need to play 18+ minutes tonight.
* Llanusa and Robertson both need to shoot well tonight. Williams just needs to be Madi and get her 18 points and 8 rebounds tonight.
* Tot needs to handle the ball well and be smart on defense. Tot is due to shoot well tonight. That would be a plus.
* Vann is the most valuable 6th player of the bench. She may be more of a starter tonight after the first rotation. Vann is always important, but tonight is a time to shine for her.
* As noted above, the Sooners need good minutes from Tucker, R Scott and maybe Joens. This may be the biggest plus for the Sooners if it occurs.
* Ball handling, OU will try to run against the 3 guards of Baylor. But OU does not need to try to make passes that are not there and only press the ball when there is an opening when it is there. * OU cannot have 20 turnovers tonight. OU needs 40 minutes of consistent basketball and scoring.
* When playing a zone defense, the Sooners can not get burned by the 8 foot shot on the either baseline to the ball side or by the off-ball inside player on the pass or on the boards. Those are where the holes are. The off-ball rotation needs to be very active to counter the ball movement.

In summary, the Sooners must play well to win tonight against what would seem to be a motivated Baylor Bear team. OU needs to remember the Big 12 Tourney loss to Baylor and be totally focused tonight. I think Oklahoma will win tonight with Williams, T-Rob, Llanusa and Vann playing big roles. But it could be a game inside 5 points for the win.

Good luck tonight to the Sooners.

Boomer Sooner!
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Post by OUBeliever56A »

Here is the mid-week Women's Big 12 Matchups on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Tuesday Night Jan 3rd:

Baylor at OU is the only game on the schedule for the night. It is the best mid-week game this week in the Big 12.

Wednesday Night, Jan 4th:

West Virginia (9-3, 0-1) at Iowa State (9-2, 1-0)
Iowa State is the favorite to win this game fairly easily I think.

Oklahoma State (10-3, 0-1) at Kansas State (11-3, 0-1)
OSU lost at home by 15 to Kansas while K-State lost at Texas on Saturday. Both teams need a win. I think the edge goes to K-State at home but I can see OSU winning this game on the road. I think this is the best mid-week game in the Big 12 outside of the Baylor at Oklahoma contect on Tuesday night.

Texas (10-4, 1-0) at TCU (6-6, 0-1)
Texas will win easily on the road in Ft. Worth. TCU may have a long conference season.

Texas Tech (12-2, 0-1) at Kansas (11-1, 1-0)
At home, Kansas is favored over Tech. But you never know when the Texas Tech ladies can surprise. Kansas should win.
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Post by RahOKU »

Disappointing night at the LNC. The officiating was tough on both teams. More than a whistle a minute, and the result was a choppy game that lacked any rhythm, as Coach Jenny said in the post-game.

The Sooners were their own worst enemy in the first quarter, scoring just 5 points. They shot 1-16 (6.3%) from the floor in the quarter. One FG and three free throws. The game went from 5-4 Baylor after the opening minutes to 21-5 at quarter's end. The lone FG came early in the game, so there was a looong scoring drought in there, with lots of poor shots and turnovers. OU got back in it with a hot second quarter and trailed by just 4 at halftime -- then came out in the third quarter and basically repeated the crummy play of the first quarter.

Madi was well off her game Tuesday night. She and Liz Scott fouled out. Three Baylor players fouled out. OU allowed Baylor's Andrews to score 30 points. By the time the Sooners put Tucker on Andrews full-time, it was too late. Tot's shooting drought from last Saturday's game continued (0-7). I wonder if she's getting worn down because Kelbie isn't available to relieve her. Anyway, she's searching for her shot, and that's hard to do in the midst of a big game. They need her as a consistent scoring threat, 10-15 points a game.

Again, the officiating created a mess. Lots of situations where a foul was called from midcourt when the referee closest to the play didn't see a foul. I know basketball is challenging to referee, but the officials need to signal early in a game that it will be called tight or not so tight, allowing more physical play. Tuesday night's crew never set the pattern and really fluctuated back and forth in its approach. Neither team ever figured out what would and wouldn't be a foul. It was just frustrating to watch. Tons of whistles and 59 free throws attempted.

Bad loss, at home, for a team that needs quality wins on its resume. I saw Coach really lay into her team during one timeout, the first time I've ever seen that from her. No time to be sad about the loss. An even better Iowa State team is here on Sunday.
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Post by OUBeliever56A »

This is a little late but I wanted to add my 2 cents worth about the game last night between the Sooners and the Baylor Bears.

Yes, the officiating was as bad as I remember seeing if not I have ever seen, but it was the fact that they completely took over the game due to the volume of fouls called. To have 53 whistles blown calling fouls is completely taking over the game. Baylor was called for 26 fouls and Oklahoma was called for 27.. The game was never overly physical at any point yet fouls were called with almost no contact at all. Basketball is a game where contact does occur, an official can not expect no contact. They seemed to want NO contact that last night. It completely killed the action of the game and any semblance of a game to be played. It hurt both teams. I would say that neither team adjusted well to the calls in any way. The officials made the game something almost unwatchable for the fans of either team.

On to the game. Oklahoma certainly cannot complain about anything really for as poorly as they played in the 1st quarter especially and in the 3rd quarter after they had rallied to get themselves back into the game in the 2nd quarter. There is nothing that the team (players and coaches) can say to overcome those two deficiencies in the game last night.

In the first quarter the Sooners made on bucket. ONE (1) bucket. That came at the 8:25 mark of the quarter. After that came three free throw for the Sooners scored to total 5 points in the 1st quarter. The scoring drought between 2 free throws and a single free throw was 7:50 seconds during the quarter. The Sooners shot 6.3% from the field in the 1Q on 1 of 16 shots. Meanwhile, Baylor was scoring 21 points to take a commanding lead of 17 points as they shot 45.0% from the field.

When Oklahoma finally scored another bucket in the 2Q (a 3-pointer by Llanusa) 9 minutes and 20 seconds had expired. OU did rally in the 2Q to trail by only 6 points at the 2:49 mark of the 2Q and ultimately only 4 points by the end of the second quarter by a score of 34-30 in favor of Baylor. After what had to be termed a disaster of a 1Q the Sooners managed to cut the lead to only 4 points as they outscored Baylor 25-13. The Sooners shot 41.2% from the field in the 2Q with three 3's and was 8 of 10 from the free throw line.

With the game back to a toss-up to start the 3Q, the Sooners quickly found themselves down by double digits. OU trailed 45-33 at the 4:41 mark of the 3Q as they were outscored 11 - 3 to open the 3Q. The lead grew to 49-36 two minutes later. The 3Q ended with Baylor leading 57-45. OU made 4 shots from the field in the 3Q as they shot 33.3% while Baylor was shooting 53.8% from the field.

OU never really mounted a comeback attempt in the 4Q as the lead was near double digits the entire quarter. OU trailed by only 7 at the 72-65 mark of the final quarter but that was as close as OU would get as Baylor won 81-70.

The three starting Baylor guards played very well. Andrews scored 30 points on 5 three's, 3 2-point buckets and 9 free throws made. the other two guards, Asberry and Owens, scored 23 points combined. That was the difference in the game I felt. OU never really had an answer for the three Baylor guards. Due to foul troubles the inside game of the Bears never really materialized consistently in the game.

For OU, Llanusa played another strong game with 24 points but it took 17 shots for her to score the points. Llanusa had 3 three's and 7 made free shots. Williams scored 16 points mainly due to free shots. Williams made 10 of 16 from the charity stripe. She probably needs to take more advantage of the free shots than to shoot 62.5%. Williams added 8 rebounds. Robertson added 14 points on 8 shots as all 8 were on three points with he making 4 of them. she also was 2 for 2 from the free throw line. The trio of Llanusa, Williams and Robertson played 92 minutes in the game. The only other Sooner that contributed for the most part was Vann who scored 7 points and pulled down 10 rebounds in 22 minutes. Oklahoma shot 31.1% for the game from the field and 27.6% from behind the 3-point line. The curious disappearance of Tot in the last two games is a concern. she once again did not score from the field bt did make 1 free throw. Liz Scott did not score from the field either but added 2 free shots.

I would say that Tucker came in and played strong defense a couple of times for the Sooners last night. she is strong defensively but she simply does not have much of an offensive game. Johnson added a couple minutes of good defense inside also but she needs to add some strength to play consistently especially on offense. Joens played 17 minutes and add ed a couple of bright moments with steals and rebounds.

I am baffled about the Sooners play last night. Coach Baranczyk cited the poor start and the poor beginning to the 3Q in the post-game interview. She seemed at a loss for what the problem or the solution could be. I would suggest a couple of basic things that could be addressed.

1. Oklahoma need a consistent scoring threat inside to emerge and be an important part of the offense. Unfortunately,the only person that can be that player is Maddie Williams. She is capable of being a scorer inside if she is down on the block with position or at the free throw line and taking the ball to the rim as she does so well. She just does not spend enough time in the paint, IMO.

2. Turnovers have to be minimized. The Sooners had 19 last night with 7 in the first quarter. Most of the turnovers are due to forcing the ball either up the court or into a space that the ball cannot get to or to a player who can do little with the ball even if the pass is on the mark. Playing quickly and shooting 29 times from downtown does not guarantee a win. Taking care of the ball and working to ge tgood shots will lead to wins. A possession of the basketball is valuable and there needs to be an effort to maximize that value.

The loss to Baylor last night hurts the effort in the Big 12 conference play and it hurts their chances to advance to the post-season. The Sooners need to rebound quickly with a strong effort, discipline and better game plan to improve.

Their next game is Sunday at home against Iowa State at 2 PM in Lloyd Noble Center. The Sooners need a very strong effort on sunday to play with and to possibly defeat the Cyclones. The Cyclones won twice against OU last season by a total of 32 points.

Boomer Sooner!
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